The Art World Demystified, hosted by Brainard Carey on Yale University Radio WYBCX, is a public affairs show that profiles personalities in the art world to understand how the creative life is built in its various forms. As a reporter since 2014, I have had the opportunity to meet with some of the most innovative luminaries working in the Canadian and international contemporary art scene.
Amish Morrell is Editor of C Magazine and Director of Programs at C The Visual Art Foundation. He currently teaches in the graduate Criticism & Curatorial Practice MFA program at OCAD University.
Clyde Wagner is the Executive Producer of the Luminato Festival in Toronto. In 2016, to celebrate it’s 10th edition, the city’s annual arts festival is energized by its plan to turn the massive Hearn generating station into a temporary arts centre. Working with the prestigious international theatre and acoustics consultants Charcoalblue and the adventurous Toronto architecture firm Partisans, Luminato will build a 1,500-seat theatre, a 2,000-seat music hall and a huge art gallery — as well as restaurants, bars and lobbies.
Theresie Tungalik For the last 17 years Theresie Tungalik has been the Advisor for Arts and Traditional Economy with the Government of Nunavut.
Yael Brotman’s work is represented in public and corporate collections including the Canada Council Art Bank; Foreign Affairs, Canada; Skirball Museum, Los Angeles; Sanbao Museum, China; University of Alberta; Bank of Montreal; Toronto Stock Exchange. She is on faculty at the University of Toronto and is President of CARFAC Ontario.
Andreas Heusser is an independent conceptual artist and curator, who became known for large scale projects that bridge the gap between art and activism. Using methods like parody, satire, interventions, and tactical obfuscation, he created fake organizations and corporations. He is the founder and director of the NO SHOW MUSEUM, the world’s first museum of nothing and its various manifestations throughout art history.
Claire Hopkinson Much of the impetus for Claire’s work in cultural policy is to understand and communicate the impact of the arts in society, and most particularly the vital role that the arts play in city building in the culturally vibrant city of Toronto. Since her appointment to Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Arts Foundation in 2005, both organizations have experienced significant growth in funding and impact, innovation in strategy and delivery, and greater understanding of their roles in the community.
Adelina Vlas is the associate curator of contemporary art at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Previously, she has worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Canada where she concentrated on permanent collection displays and special exhibitions.
Ben Mills is the Vice President of Public Art Management, Canada’s leading public art consulting firm. The company connects public and private urban developers with internationally renowned artists. Since 1987, PAM has overseen the production of nearly 200 large-scale public projects in Canada and worldwide, including landmark works by Anish Kapoor, James Turrell, Vito Acconci, Dennis Oppenheim, James Carpenter, and more.
David Balzer is the author of Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else. He has contributed to publications including The Believer, Modern Painters, ARTnews, Camera Austria, Artforum.com and Capital New York. Balzer currently lives in Toronto, where he is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Canadian Art Magazine.’
Erich Knoespel is the Special Projects Coordinator for Artcast Inc., Canada’s Premier Art Foundry which produces high-quality castings for the fine-art industry as well as architectural elements, 3D printed applications, and restoration work.
Gaëtane Verna is the Director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, Canada. Ms. Verna was formerly Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette (MAJ) in Lanaudière, Quebec. She holds a DEA and a Masters degree from the Université Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne as well as an International Diploma in Heritage Administration and Conservation from the Institut National du Patrimoine in Paris, France.
Heather Nicol is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator and educator. She her artworks and site specific installations have been exhibited and produced in a wide range of contexts, including with Sculpture Centre (New York), the Brooklyn Academy of Music (NY), Hallwalls (Buffalo), the City of Toronto – Nuit Blanche, Chateau de Courannces (France), Kunsterhaus Betanien (Berlin), among others.
With engaged projects such as her guides to modern ruins and urban wastelands or her rubble mountains, Lara Almarcegui has taken her practice to capital cities like London, Beirut and Vienna. She has participated in major international contemporary art events such as Manifesta 9 (2012), the São Paulo Biennial (2006) and represented her country (Spain) at the 55th Biennale of Venezia.
Mia Nielsen is Head of Cultural Programming for Drake Hotel Properties, overseeing art exhibits, cultural programming, residencies and partnerships for the brand's properties, including The Drake Hotel, Toronto's hotbed for culture; the Drake One Fifty, a stand-alone restaurant in Toronto's Financial District, and Drake Devonshire Inn in Prince Edward County.
Naomi Campbell is an award-winning producer of over sixty new Canadian performance works with companies including Nightswimming, Mammalian Diving Reflex, DVxT Theatre, the late Paul Bettis' Civilized Theatre, VideoCabaret and numerous independent artists. She is currently the Director of Artistic Development at Toronto's Luminato Festival, where she shepherds new works from ideas to production.
Rebecca Belmore is a celebrated contemporary artist of Anishinaabe origin, whose multi-disciplinary practice includes photography, sculpture, video and performance. Achieving communicative resonance in the crucible of history and present day experience, Belmore’s art draws us into the pressing issues of today’s world, among these the balance of nature in the face of resource exploitation and the process of enduring injustices. Belmore is the recipient of the Governor General’s award in Visual Arts and Media (2013) and was Canada’s representative to the Venice Biennial (2005).
Robert VanderBerg’s primary interest in the arts is to engage the broadest possible audience by presenting artworks in public, often unexpected, places. Robert has produced over 40 exhibitions since graduating from York University’s Graduate Programme in Art History. Currently he is the Archivist/Curator at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada.
Rui Mateus Amaral is Program Director at Scrap Metal Gallery, a privately owned non-profit exhibition space in Toronto. He has curated various exhibitions: Somebody Everybody Nobody (2014); All Beneath the Moon Decays (2014) ; Eva Kotatkova (2014); Locating Ourselves (2013), and others.
Umbereen Inayet, MSW, is a playwright, social worker and prolific arts programmer. She is currently the Artistic Programming Lead for Nuit Blanche Toronto, the largest contemporary art event in North America.